One of the most influential people in my life is my dad. Being my softball coach since I was very little, we’ve always had this bond that I don’t think I could have with anyone else in the world. Spending countless long weekends on the field and week nights until it was literally pitch black out, softball was definitely something we bonded over. He would always push me to be better and work harder because he knew I could do it, and there’s nothing I appreciate more than that.
And when we weren’t out on the field, I can promise you that we were inside watching the Yankee game. It was one of our daily rituals, sit down with dinner on the couch and just relax and watch the game. One of the best things we did was on Opening day every year. I would come home from school and he would take off of work for the day and we would just order food and watch the game. It was honestly one of my favorite things to do and I miss watching games more than I can even express now that I’m away at school.
My dad has pushed me over the years to be the hardworking, confident, and athletic person I am today and I absolutely cannot wait to get back home and watch some more Yankee games with him!
I have a very strong relationship with my family. They are always there for me no matter what I’m going through and they inspire me everyday. I am the oldest of three, I have a younger sister who is fifteen, a younger brother who is thirteen, and of course, my two wonderful parents. I feel like everyone thinks their family is incredibly weird, and I’m one of those people. My house is filled with pure chaos. Picture this, my father working in his office, my mother running around the house trying to get my siblings ready for a soccer practice, preparing dinner, or doing laundry, my brother playing the piano that’s in our living room, my sister hiding in her room, my miniature poodle barking nonstop, my puppy trying to play with my miniature poodle, and my cats bringing in dead rodents. This is a typical day in the Bychok household, but I love the chaos.
My family inspires me everyday because both my parents and my siblings have incredible work ethic- they give 110% in everything they do. Because of our close relationship I always aspire to do well. I always tried to do well in school, be involved in extracurricular activities, and an overall well rounded person. I’m not entirely sure how to explain it, but I never wanted to disappoint my family. Being the oldest out of my siblings I felt like I was obligated to be a good role model, and being a good role model meant exceeding in everything I did. Sure, there was an enormous amount at times but it was always worth it when my parents told me how proud they were of me.
Along with my immediate family, my extended family has had a huge impact on my life. Most of my dad’s side of the family lives in Hampton, New Hampshire, which is about 20 minutes away from my hometown of York, Maine so we see them all the time. We are all super close and my aunt, uncle, and cousin are three of the funniest people I’ve ever met. My cousin’s kids are the ones who validated my feelings towards wanting to become a teacher. I absolutely love reading to them, watching movies with them, and playing games with them. They all have bright minds and hilarious personalities. I love these kids and the rest of my family to death! They inspire me to be the best version of myself at all times.
Sometimes, you don’t realize how much someone has influenced you until you really look back to reflect on it. George has known me since I was four, and we have only grown closer since then. I was the only senior on the gymnastics team that graduated this year, and he made it such a memorable year for me. As my coach, he taught me new lessons everyday, both by example and through conversation. Now, in college, I still remember things that he has told me, and those words can get me through practically anything, in gymnastics and far beyond.
“Always work your hardest, no matter what. If you work your hardest on the bad days, doing whatever you are physically capable of, then that is going to make the good days even better.” That is the number one piece of advice that George gave me, and it had proven to be true many times over in my life. In gymnastics, there are days when I can barely move I hurt so much. George doesn’t tell me to try the hard stuff anyways. Not every day is going to be brilliant, and I don't want to hurt myself. Instead, he says “do whatever you can, and keep working on the techniques that will help you do the skill tomorrow.” So, I would do a hundred single back-handsprings on beam, only to find that the double-handsprings were so much easier the next day, when I was feeling better.
The key to living by these words of his is not to be so hard on yourself. I have been in many situations where I have found my eyes filling up with tears when I fell short of my expectations for myself. It may be getting a bad grade on a test, or falling over and over on a skill that I had done perfectly the previous day. I know that life is full of ups and downs; I've heard it said many times before. However, it is often difficult to accept the downs, especially when it seems to be a quick drop. Instead of getting emotional and mad at yourself, you have to start the climb back up to the top. But, you can't jump right up there in one swift motion. You have to work through the bad days, doing everything that you can to make them worthwhile. Then, when you do finally get to the top, it feels a thousand times better.
Some days in school I didn’t get enough sleep, or I was upset about something that happened outside the classroom. Instead of getting stressed out about the workload, I would take a deep breath, and just keep working. If I can listen to the teacher, get the notes, and keep working, than tomorrow is going to be easier. It’s the idea that I just have to keep my chin up, and know that the sun will come out tomorrow. As cheesy as it sounds, I have found these words to be true many times throughout my life so far.
Yes, I’m the type of person who gets mad at myself, or upset when things don’t go how I had envisioned them. George and I have had our share of fights, but in the end, he is like a second father to me. He has taught me the importance of not letting my emotions control me. He has taught me that if I work hard enough day after day without getting mad at myself, than the results will prove to be rewarding. When I was little, I applied these words directly to my gymnastics, and after a few years, I began to see what he was talking about. Now that I am older, I am able to apply this philosophy to all aspects of my life, including school. In school, mindsets are huge, and I believe that I have a fairly positive mindset. I owe a lot of that to George for teaching me the importance of making the most out of every day, because there is always something that we can do today to make tomorrow better. After fourteen years of working with George, he has proven to me that success as a result of hard work is a real thing.
I would honestly have to say that my life outside of school is what contributed most to my academic success. Sports, hobbies, clubs, jobs, and family are what truly drove me to finding my niche and my passion. As I mentioned earlier in my profile, I volunteered for two years on a Challenger Baseball team and worked with children with special needs. This is perhaps one of the most significant experiences that really impacted me and forced me from my comfort zone. Being involved with this team is what cemented my love and hopes for working with children in the future. It brought out a side of me that never truly reached the light. My knack for communicating, connecting, befriending them and gaining their trust was able to shine and made me realize that this is what made me happy.This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. This further helped me to succeed not only in my life outside of school but also in my academics for it developed certain skills that benefited me in classes that I took like Child Care, Adult and Child Development and Teaching Children and Adults. Along with this, I was also a YMCA camp counselor for children ages 2-5. This experience was definitely an interesting one... Each day brought forth a new adventure. I was bitten, spit on, hit, and every other imaginable thing. This job was a definite wake up call for me if I wanted to work with children in the next phase of my life. It gave me a feeling of power, responsibility, control, independence and confidence, something that I have struggled with. Becoming a camp counselor has made me realize that I want to become an elementary school teacher, whereas before, I was interested in early childhood education. I felt as though I wanted to work with children who were a little older and more developed, mentally. It helped me to focus on a more specific form of teaching. Both my job as a counselor and volunteering for the special needs baseball team have allowed me explore my passion for working with children and in turn, this has helped guided me on my path.
From the day I was born, my family had always been the most significant influence in my life. The supported me in everything that did, they challenged, comforted and stood by me. Whether it was late night talks, advice with friends or pep-talks before a game or race, my family was there. When it came to my academic success, they had just as much of an impact. Up until my junior year of high school, my parents would often quiz me on what I had to study for a test. I realize now, how lucky I am for something like that because not many others have parents that would help out their children the way they helped me. They would remind me not to procrastinate, and offer encouragement when it was most needed. Growing up with my family, in a town sheltered form reality, I was definitely molly coddled, and now that I have entered college, it is a huge adjustment. I am on my own, just like everyone else. Over the years however, my parents have taught me how to trust myself, how to stay focused and how to truly work towards something. Without these influences in my life outside of school, I would not be the same person I am today. Success in my academic as well as my social life has given me the confidence I need to propel me forth on my journey.
Ever since I can remember, I have had a close relationship with my mom. She is one of those people that is impossible to dislike because she always puts others before herself. During my junior year of high school, something unexpected and scary happened to our family. We learned that my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor and would need a major surgery in the upcoming months for removal. It was a stressful time of anticipation due to the risks involved in a highly invasive surgery. After approximately 11 hours, she was back off the anesthesia and in the Intensive Care Unit for recovery.
I can’t explain how I felt when I saw her immediately following the procedure and into the next few weeks. Ever since I was born she was always there, always the strong mom who could do anything. I had never seen her in a similar state and when she came out of surgery I barely recognized her.
The recovery process was long because she had to regain strength to walk again and rework the muscles on the side of her of her face where the removal left temporary facial paralysis. Watching her was hard because I knew how much she wanted to help others and not be the one who needed help. She had so much strength still to gain back and it seemed like it would never happen.
Watching her recovery, I realized that I spent too long taking life for granted. We never know what might happen so we have to be thankful for each day. I learned the importance of being generous and caring like the family and friends who set up breakfast and dinner for my family everyday for over a month and supported us through it all. I feel as though this experience affected me and motivated me to be a better person. I also learned my own capability, how I am able to be strong in difficult times and how I am able to be independent. Material things and irrelevant arguments are not worth the time and energy. My mom is doing well and almost fully recovered and I couldn’t be happier. It was a difficult time but it taught me a lot about life in general and the perspective I want to have on life.
Everyone was so different. There were the experienced people who felt safe on the courts. The courts had once felt so foreign, but soon became their homes. Then, there were the pack of girls: the girls who would use practice as a social hour, simply craving each other's attention. There was the guy who came to practice as a different person: a person who was tennis. And then there was me, a person looking for a reason.
I was never good at tennis. The ability to control the amount of power the ball needs, in a split second, to perfectly hit a spot where it is impossible for the opponent to return - that did not come naturally to me.
While others on the team focused on becoming the best tennis players, I was watching: watching how they interacted with one another, how they took criticism, how they looked when they failed or excelled.
After observing, I found that the courts became a place of comfort for me, a place away from reality. Whenever I needed to get away, tennis was always there. Returning to practice every day made me a better tennis player, a better me.
I soon found my place on the team, a place that was in between. A place where I could learn from the knowledgeable ones, understand the once frightening pack for who they are, and not what I thought they were, and appreciate what was so unique about tennis that made the guy who came to practice every day keep coming back.
Tennis soon became an enormous part of my life. To me, tennis is not a sport, it is a story: a story that continues to develop new, complex chapters every practice and every game; a place where people come together for their own reasons.
Tennis changed who I was; it made me who I am. It made me a player who cherishes reality. It made me a player who has hope in life. Tennis gave me a sense of belonging. It gave me my place on the sidelines cheering our sports team on, my place helping organize the Homecoming Pep Rally, my place behind the curtain waiting for the musical to begin, my place as captain of my own girl’s tennis team; my place of inbetweens.
Especially by creating my own tennis team, I fell in love with teaching others. I loved the fact that the girls would come to practice wanting to be better. And I felt like I could relate to the girls on the team who simply had no idea what they were doing - because that was me.
Tennis also made me become aware of watching others and interpreting their actions before making assumptions. Being a coach to a team has inspired me to be an understanding teacher for my students.
As the season of spring co-ed tennis reached its last game, I did not want it to end. I wanted to come back to practice the next day; I wanted to come home. I finally felt safe on the courts, and the season was over.
Up until my freshman year of college, I always said how much I couldn’t wait to get out of Rhode Island. I was more than ready to begin my four year journey at Keene State College in New Hampshire. Only a few months into the school year, however, I realized that all I really wanted was to be back in my small home state. I made this decision for many reasons, including my dislike for living in a dorm and not making connections with other students. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to come back to Lil Rhody, however, is that I truly missed my family. My family has played an instrumental role in my academic success since I was in kindergarten. Despite their divorce when I was nearly five years old, neither my mom nor my dad have ever stopped believing in me and pushing me to achieve my goals. I’ve always been motivated and driven in anything I set out to do, which I can credit to my upbringing by my parents. These characteristics helped me excel in school, as I always put my best effort forward in my work. They taught me discipline skills such as respect and proper manners, as well as organizational skills that I use to this day. Being able to manage time in school and stay organized is key to success. They were there for every school presentation, graduation or awards ceremony I’ve ever been in. Without them, I don’t know if I’d be the confident and driven student I am today. My mom also had a large influence on my decision to become a teacher. I grew up watching her make lesson plans for her preschool class at her school in East Greenwich. I was always fascinated by her work, and was inspired to “play school” as a child, following in her footsteps. I’ve always admired my mom for her good natured and caring character which she translates into her job as a teacher. Although she was hesitant about me becoming a teacher at first, she supports me in doing whatever will make me happy. Now, I find that I can come to her with any questions I have about the world of teaching, and am lucky I have her support along the way. English has always been my strongest subject. I’ve been an avid reader ever since I was little. My parents would always find me curled up with a book somewhere in the house at any point in time. I was fascinated by how someone else’s words on a page could conjure up such strong emotions. My love for reading at home led to my appreciation for the works we studied in my English class. I approached each literary work with special care, doing my best to detect hidden meanings and symbolism. I participated in every discussion I could and was exposed to amazing pieces of literature. I also discovered my passion for writing, a skill that transfers to every other subject I’ve ever taken. In the end, I truly have my family to think for being my biggest support system.
For most of my life, I was a swimmer. Every single day, I swam for three plus hours, while still having to manage both school work and the attempt to have a social life. Through many restless school days and endless days of not being to handle everything, I learned life skills that are going to last me the rest of my life. The difficulties that I overcame and the mental boot camp I went through has prepared me well for not only college, but life beyond college. At the age of seven, I began to swim, however this was only in the summer and didn’t make too much of an indent on my social or academic life. By the time I was ten years old, I began to swim year round, at a rather competitive program that required me to swim six times a week for two hours each day. I struggled to find the motivation to complete tasks such as those at such a young age, and absolutely hated going to practice; however, I was good at swimming, so I decided it was just better to stick at something I was good at rather than do something where I had no talents. When I turned twelve, my family and I moved to New York and with my new team, I had an entirely different outlook on swimming and sudden motivation to be the best that I could possibly become. Through getting to know my new team and coaches, I pushed myself harder and harder in the pool, I knew what my goals were, and I was willing to do just about anything to achieve those goals. I never gave up, and eventually I reached those goals. I also learned how to be a leader and good teammate and friend during this process. By my junior year, I was captain of my varsity team and continued to be captain through my senior year. However, with great success comes great failure, and I had to learn how to mentally and physically make it through rough patches. I can not lie, a lot of the times the pressure to once again become the great swimmer I was while still maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school was not an easy accomplishment. But because of the skills swimming had taught me, I knew that I was a strong person and could do anything that I had put my mind to. Throughout all of my experiences as a swimmer, I’d have to say by far the most inspiring one was when I went through countless injuries and failures and refused to let that stop me. At some point, eventually, everyone has to move on from swimming and find something else in their lives that they want to succeed in, but I knew that for me, swimming had not yet come to a close. There was more left out there for me to achieve and I was willing to do whatever it took to find those things. Everything I have been through in this sport has also helped me in the classroom. Most nights I found myself getting less than 5 hours of sleep due to homework and having to wake up at the crack of dawn to swim, but I knew that if I was going to be successful in life, I couldn’t let swimming be my only priority. Spending long hours alone, studying and frantically trying to complete various assignments, I became a very determined person. Grades were always important to me, and like swimming, I knew that if I wanted to have high grades, I was going to have to work hard for them, so I never gave up and always gave schoolwork and tests everything that I had; I never let anything get in my way. I am thankful that I had such a difficult sport in my life to teach me all of these valuable lessons and I hope that I will be able to use these lessons and skills in my life as I grow older and find new obstacles to conquer. I say with pride that I honestly do not think I would be half the student I am today without swimming in my life, or without my parents. The endless support and encouragement given to me by my parents has allowed me to put myself out there and reach for goals that may seem unattainable; they taught me that no dream is too big and you can do anything you put your mind to. Growing up as the oldest sibling, I was always very independent and often played a "parent" role to my younger brother, Ryan, and my little sister, Olivia. I shared with them all the faith that I was given and I push them to be their best and support them along the way. My family is one of the biggest reasons I am so successful in school, and each day they inspire me to be the best version of myself possible; I want to be a good role model for my brother and sister. Having a sister in elementary school helped me to find my desire to become and elementary school teacher. Always helping her with her projects, I grew to really enjoy the way her mind thought and I loved to answer all of her innocent questions, I want to allow children's learning to soar, and so I will continue to work hard so I can make that dream a reality.
As it did my whole life, dance consumed my high school years as well. Being a competitive dancer was hard and exhausting. I brought my homework to the studio and worked with everyone there on his or her own schoolwork as well. We all helped each other out because we knew how long we would all be there and how hard it was to do homework when you get home at 9:30pm on a school night. My teachers would let me sit out if I had too much homework because they knew school and my grades cam before dance. Dance gave me skills I use today such as time management, a work ethic, and teaching tips. It gave me something to strive for but to remember there was more out in the world than only dance and that I needed to study to go to college and get such a career that would grant me the opportunity to continue dancing.
Varying only a little, I was with the same girls my whole life. They were not only my dance team; they were the sisters I didn’t have at home. By my senior year, there were 17 on my team, which was hard, but I wouldn’t have traded it for the world and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Each girl holds a special place in my heart and even though we speak often, I miss them immensely. The dance team taught me what it meant to want something so bad and work so hard for it. When I was younger, school came easy. Not anymore unfortunately. However, I always wanted to be like the older girls and I strived to look like them in everything I did. I learned how to push myself to the limit and what it meant to persevere even through rough times. My hard work paid off and I began moving up with the older girls and I became an example to the younger girls that it was possible.
I have one dance teacher to this day who I love immensely and would do anything for. She has been nothing but supportive in everything I have done; even when I was contemplating quitting, she backed me up because she wanted what was best for me. She gave me a few scares, especially with her fall on the ice after two hip replacements. She was older and the wisest woman I had ever met. She gave a breath of fresh air in her dancing even though she was limited. She left the studio about two years back for her health. I was lost without her but I continue contact and I probably owe her a phone call now.
My family and extended family have always have always had the opportunity for a college education. My parents both have degrees and my aunt has multiple undergraduate and graduate level degrees; it was always impressed upon me the importance of a college education. I had always heard to "work smart, not hard." The only way this could be accomplished was through higher education in order to secure a professional career rather than a "job".
I've recently witnessed my mom go back to school after many years because she wanted to better herself. This instilled a work ethic in me to figure out my education in order to succeed and achieve my desired occupation or career. A career should evolve out of a passion or personal interest and that is why I have chosen to work in the pediatric end of communicative disorders. My love of children and watching them grow and learn even through tough times has given me a drive for my schoolwork.
Not only for Career purposes, academics were always very important in my house. I was always reminded to sacrifice a little fun now for the reward later. To go to work happy and excited everyday was far better than punching a clock and paying the bills. How can anyone do this? An education, especially a college one. I was always told by my mom how lucky I was to discover what I wanted to do so early in life so that I could start way earlier than she did. My mom changed careers very late in life when she finally discovered what she wanted to do. What watching this has done for me, is to show me that no matter what, work hard in school and you will achieve your goals. The most important building block to this structure of life and future is education. It was instilled in my parents from when they were young and it was instilled in me because of that.
My younger sister Nicole drags herself into my room, lugging with her a large math text book for the second time this week. She sits down on my floor, and spreads the book and her notebook open for me to see, and begins hammering away with “I don’t know’s”. My sister and I are opposites when it comes to math, so helping her is always a challenge. It’s hard to respectfully discuss topics with your sibling when both of you are exhausted and frustrated and one of you isn’t understanding something, but somehow we always manage to end the studying peacefully. We have always used each other’s strengths – she helped me format and compose my first resume, and I usually help her with math and science homework. In many ways, it brings us closer as sisters, but it also helps us achieve what is academically expected of us: 100% effort, and hopefully good grades.
From an early age, my parents challenged me intellectually. When I was a kid my mom worked at our local library, and it became one of my favorite places. The librarians on the children’s floor loved me, because I would walk around for hours organizing the books alphabetically by author, then by title, and then by size. I learned to read at a fairly young age, and I read a lot of books out loud to my sister, but my favorite past time by far was puzzles. I liked conceptual puzzles, picture puzzles, math puzzles and word puzzles. Taking intellectual risks was something I gained knowledge and experience from, and it’s probably the reason I pushed myself outside my academic comfort zone as much as possible in high school.
Although my sister is my number one peer editor, I owe my productive work ethics to my mom, who taught me how to manage my time. For as long as I can remember, my parents have made me go to bed relatively early. In middle school, I would be doing homework in my room and as soon as nine ‘o’clock came around, I would have to start getting ready for bed, even if my homework wasn’t finished. I remember my mom coming in my room one night when I was in fifth grade; I was working on my science poster board and I had almost finished gluing everything on when she came in and told me to go to sleep. I remember begging her for ten more minutes – just to do my homework (nerd!). Although she let me have it that night, her relentless attitude that sleep should come before anything else has given me great time management skills. These were crucial for me in high school, especially during sports seasons.
During the soccer season, we had practice Monday through Friday from 3-5:30pm, and usually we had a game or two each week as well. Because I lived a half hour away from my school, I didn’t get home most nights until 6pm or later, at which time I had to eat dinner and shower. By the time I was settled in, it was already 7:30 or 8 and I had to start my homework. For six classes’ worth of homework, one or two hours was not nearly enough time to get everything finished for the next day, especially with the inevitability of procrastination. So I ended up doing all the homework I could on the bus rides home from soccer so that I could go to sleep early. I felt like I was working all the time, and although this left me frustrated, I always got a good night’s sleep, which prepared me for the next day’s adventures and kept me healthy.
To give you some background, my mom now works as a secretary for a research company in my town, and my dad works as a product manager for a software company. I’m not sure if it was my upbringing that caused me to fall in love with science, or just my natural interests, but by middle school I knew I wanted to pursue math and science in college. My parents supported my decision completely, and never doubted that I would do well in the field. During senior year, they encouraged me to apply for as many ‘women in STEM’ scholarships as possible to help pay for college, something I can’t regret.
I wouldn’t be enjoying my college career without the constant pushes and cheers I received from my parents over the years. They have made me an individual who is independent, communicates well, and works hard, and I am forever thankful for all that they have taught me.
Since I was a little girl I have always been a very family orientated person. My family as a whole are very caring and involved in each others lives. Saying this, my family has the greatest outside influence on me. My mom, dad, and sister are my best friends and they are the reason I’m the person I am today. Without them I wouldn’t have such a positive mindset, I wouldn’t have the morals I do, and I wouldn’t have the strive to do well in school like I do now. My mom is my role model. She teaches me right from wrong and is always pointing me in the right direction. My dad inspires me to reach my goals and teaches me new things everyday. And my sister, my absolute best friend, makes me a better person. I am her role model, so everyday of my life I try setting the greatest influence I can for her. If I wasn’t as close as I am with my family, I don’t know what kind of person I would be. I personally, am not very confidant, but they always push me and make sure I am doing the best I can do in every aspect of my life. Without my family I don’t know if I would be in college right now because I wouldn’t do as well in school without their motivation. I am forever grateful for my family and their constant love and support. I strive to be as amazing and supporting like my parents one day and will always be the best I can be for my little sister. Having these people as my outside influences is the greatest thing I could have ever asked for.
Having just read Carol Dweck's Mindset, I couldn't help but notice some of the ways Dweck warned parents not to raise their children. When praising your children it's important to guard your tongue because even the highest of praises, though uplifting for your child at the time, may stick with them, and end up doing far more harm than good.
With that in mind, the biggest academic influence acting on me outside of the classroom was without a doubt my mother. My mother is a wonderful woman, and from an early age both she and my father encouraged me to do well in school, make many friends in many places, and to stretch myself and test my comfort zone. While I love them both, and I've never mentioned this to them, some of the things they said in their attempts to encourage me have, just as Dweck said, left me feeling as if I've fallen short. From an early age my mother told me I was smart. I, as I'm sure many of my fellow classmates here did, excelled in the early years of grade school. A second grade teacher recommended taking me out of public school and putting me into a private setting in which I might hone my talents even more.
My mom wasn't afraid to tell anyone that, and she reminded me of it on a regular basis in the years to follow. She still does actually. It's quite annoying.
I don't think I'm unintelligent. I actually like to think I'm a reasonably good thinker, but I dislike thinking of myself above others. I believe humility is an important quality to practice. Sure, I have pride in quite a few areas, but to be openly expressive of that pride is often in poor taste. In a classroom setting, I'd rather my grades do the talking. My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Castiglione, once told me, after a long one on one speech about effort in the classroom, "you could be the star."
Of course, I went home and told my mom that, and that became my undoing. The way I see it, yes, I'm a good student. However, I have some study habits which I'm still trying to correct and I have a bad habit of procrastination. Despite what my fifth grade teacher said to me, who's to say I'm the smartest and most capable one in the classroom? I don't know, maybe I was at the time, but there were others who were very intelligent as well, and some of them had a better work ethic than I did. Despite all the praise my mother gave me at home, I felt as if, partly due to my own errors of course, I frequently fell short of the standard she set for me. Despite how much she told me I could overcome it, I never did.
While my mother was by far the most powerful influence acting on me outside of school in this regard, my father was there as well, always acting as a sort of buffer for her fanatics. While he certainly cared, and still cares, about my schooling, he's a much more quiet person, and his encouragement has always been tame. Despite the passion my mom has expressed in her desire to see me succeed, my father's softer spoken words of encouragement were always highly appreciated.
As I've stated, although it was by my own errors that I didn't always do as well as I could have done in the classroom, I have to say, a lot of stress was supplemented by the things my mom said to me. Going forward, I look to correct those mistakes in college. My parents and family have been a constant source of encouragement, even now, and I plan to take all these positive words they've had for me and carry them forward, if all goes well, into further understanding and success.
Maya Angelou spoke to the importance of knowing one’s own worth. She said when you know your worth, you don’t have to raise your voice, be rude, or command attention: you just are. I used to be afraid to assert myself, especially to someone in a position of authority; I did not trust my worth. Last summer, I found my worth 1,500 meters under the sea. I wasn’t actually 1,500 meters below the ocean’s surface; I was watching live footage from deep-sea ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) while on the Exploration Vessel Nautilus in the Jamaica Channel. The ROV cameras send footage to a control van on board the ship and to a website that is publicly accessible twenty-four hours a day. I spent one week on the Nautilus as the last part of the Honors Research Program, an internship run by Dr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who found the Titanic shipwreck. The program offered me an opportunity to explore my interest in biological oceanography. After going through customs in Montego Bay, Jamaica (an adventure in and of itself), I finally boarded the Nautilus. The next day, I spent hours inside the control van, the center of scientific exploration on board. Its outward, boxy appearance has all the imposing awe of a mobile home, but after yanking open the salt-covered door, I was truly amazed. The van was considerably cooler than the balmy Caribbean air to preserve the wall of computers flashing and buzzing in the back. Its interior would have been pitch-black were it not for the massive, high-resolution monitors showing stunning live video from the ROV cameras. I put on a headset to communicate with everyone in the van and answer questions viewers submitted through the live website. I switched on the public communication system and listened to the scientists, educators, and pilots as I watched the ROVs descend through the water column past delicate white flakes of marine snow. I listened to the explorers introduce themselves and then nervously flipped the switch to send my voice to viewers around the world. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, being surrounded graduate students, scientists, and a Yale professor, but then I realized I should be proud. I was the only high school student in the van, one of only eight who would go on the Nautilus the whole year. I had earned my acceptance into this program; I was ready for this. I introduced myself cheerily to the viewers and quickly got comfortable fielding questions from the public and asking questions of the scientists. On the next dive, the ROVs approached what everyone in the van misidentified as a crinoid, an organism not unlike the Truffula trees of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. I was the only one who knew it was actually a brisingid sea star. I now faced what I had always been uncomfortable with: asserting myself. Should I correct the people in the van, including the expedition leader and an accomplished geologist, or stay silent out of fear? I decided I had to trust myself. I had been paying attention to the dives, soaking up everything the scientists said, and I now knew what I was worth to the expedition. I switched on the public communication system and said quietly but assuredly, “Actually, I think that’s a brisingid sea star.” The data engineer took a second look at the monitors. After a terrifying moment of silence, she said, “Oh, you’re right.” Then, the leader of the entire expedition said to me, “Yeah. Good job, Dawn.” I was receiving praise from people who achieved recognition I one day hope to have. Even more than that, I was no longer afraid. I hadn’t needed to command attention or raise my voice; I was just myself. The scientists accepted me because once I knew my worth, so did the people around me. The summer of 2014 was the most influential summer of my life. I went out on the ship after spending a month at the University of Rhode Island studying oceanography. Seven other students and I worked on group research projects to study the population densities of invasive lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean and also worked together to engineer oceanic drifters, devices that float in and measure ocean current by reporting their location to a satellite via GPS. I realized I want to work for either the organization that ran the program, Ocean Exploration Trust, or a similar organization, exploring the deep ocean. I want to be on research ships as much as possible in my life because the time on the ship was illuminating for me more than just academically; it showed me what I want to do with the rest of my life.
While growing up I lived in a world populated by larger than life heroes. Chief among these heroes was my sister. Throughout my life, my sister was my role model: more intelligent, more determined, and more successful than any other mere mortal. To say that she influenced my early schooling would be a gross understatement, rather, she defined my academic career well into high school. Before I had any idea of how grades would affect the remainder of my life, I always strove to try and surpass my older sister. Knowing that my sister had always read several years above her reading level, I endeavored to do the same, ravenously devouring any form of literature I could get my hands on until about the time I got into high school. Outside of my sister, the rest of my family helped shape me into the person I am today. My parents were both born in Lisbon, Portugal and only through hard work and tenacity did they carve their place in the middle class out. Both of my parents having had a college education, they knew the value of schooling and always encouraged me to take my studies seriously. I owe all of my academic successes to my family who inspired and drove me forward through years of school.
Outside Influences: Everyone always has something going on outside of school. My life outside of school sometimes made it challenging to do all my homework, but it was definitely possible getting it done even if it was at 1 a.m. Growing up my mom taught me to get homework done as soon as I got home from school so I always had that mentality unless I was busy. During the winter I was involved in Girls' Show which took up a lot of my time, but it was the girls I met that helped me with my academic success. After practice we would go to someone's house and get our homework done. If one of us had a test to study for then the rest of us would help by quizzing each other. Grades were very important to my friends and I, plus we needed good grades to continue to play sports as well as for colleges. My mom has been a high school English teacher for over 30 years. She has contributed greatly to my academic success. She is the main reason why I chose secondary education as my major. She played a huge role in who I am today and why I am the way I am. My mom taught me to always ask questions if I did not understand something which is how I managed to get good grades. My mom would help me study when I was younger to get me into the habit of studying because she knew it was an important skill I needed to have to succeed in college. My brothers also helped with my academic success. As math got more challenging my brother Billy would help me understand the material that my mom could no longer help me with since it was not her forte. I remember one night in particular, it was a little after midnight and I was on my couch in my living room studying for a math midterm. I was getting extremely frustrated, but I did not understand logs and natural logs and started crying. (which happens when I get really stressed out) My mom told me to relax and that everything was going to be ok. Even though she could not help me study she was there for me. She is truly my sanity. She told me to go to bed and in the morning everything would be better and of course she was right. I am beyond thankful for her and all that she did for me to help me succeed and still does for me today. There have been many nights like that where she would just take me out for ice cream to try to get my mind off of it for a while and then later on I would come back to it when I was calm. My mom is truly my best friend and I am so happy that she has been my biggest supporter since day one. My parents are divorced and I have a half sister that you will never hear me talk about. She did not care about school and she messed up in life. Seeing where she ended up in life has also motivated me to work hard in school and to not end up like her. She taught me to surround myself with good people and to not let the craziness of high school change who I am just like it changed her. I barely talk to her, but once in a while I get a text message reminding me of how important school is and to not get caught up in the wrong crowd like her. My mom and grandmother are both very intelligent women. They both received good grades and that is what really motivated me to do well in school. I wanted to be just like the two strongest, most independent people in my life. I knew if I did not do something to my fullest potential they would be disappointed in me so I just did what I had to do. My grandmother was also a high school English teacher. My mom was admired by her students. Whenever I was in public with her either a current or former student would stop her and say hi. They would also tell me how much they loved my mom and how great of teacher she was. That is when I really knew I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be admired just like my mom was. My mom retired as of this year and when she left students and faculty cried because she has touched the lives of many. She not only taught, she taught with passion because she loved what she did. She is my inspiration and motivation to be the best teacher I can be.
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There was so many people that made a tremendous impact on my life, almost too many to recall. I was fortunate enough to come in contact with the most wonderful people with beautiful souls. The first person I would have to acknowledge would definitely have to be my mother. Although, it took me too many years to realize it, she is the most amazing person I have encountered. My mother is a unique individual with thoughts she does not feel the need to censor. My mother took a few years off from working as a medical assistant, in order to raise my sister and I. She was no ordinary mother. My mom wanted us to learn about our surroundings and be aware of the world. We would go on frequent nature walks where she would explain to us the changing seasons and its impact on the neighborhood. My mother explained to me that it is not my world, it belongs to everyone and we must take care of our planet. We also collected leaves and pinecones in order to create art projects. She was not your typical Long Island mother. My mother bought us uncensored music because she felt that one "should not edit art". My mother is the type of person that played her children punk rock songs, following it up with classical music, and then singing me the best of Motown. The term, "sheltering", is not something my mother was found of and I am surprisingly grateful for that. I knew at a young age what was going on in the world, something a lot of my peers could not say today. My mother encouraged us to be different and to be ourselves. She saw my interests and talents in art and made sure that she was able to give me every opportunity she could. Even if that meant letting me take classes we could not exactly afford. My mother made sure she attended everything. Whether it was an art show, concert, or a academic ceremony; I could always count on her being there. She grew up in a project in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her opportunities were limited and she was not able to get the kind of chances I received. She felt strongly about our schooling and made sure we read every night. She helped me develop my passion for literature. My mother is the most intelligent person I have ever came in contact with. It is not because I watched her every night, for as long as I can remember, recite almost every right answer to Jeopardy questions. But it is for how she gave herself that education I so admire. She is the most selfless person when it comes to her children . My mother made many sacrifices throughout my life in order to make Laura and I happy. If it wasn't for her, I know I would not be who I am today. She led by example, teaching me her feminist views and bestowing upon be a sense of curiosity I will take with me for the rest of my life.
My life outside of school largely consisted of sports. I played basketball, soccer, and track for my school and for recreational leagues. Since there are practices 5-6 days a week for 2 or more hours I didn't have much time for clubs. I was involved in student government but this mostly consisted of work during educational hours with occasional after or before school meetings. The only other clubs I participated in were Model UN and Math League. Both of these met once a week or less. These extracurricular were a large part of my social and self education in my formative years for specific reasons. The sports I played contributed to the lessons of teamwork and determination. Every practice I was being molded to believe in hard work and perseverance as deciding factors in how well I performed in the activity I was taking part in. In every game I was learning the importance of believing in the people around me, to contribute to the larger goal at hand. I was also taught what it means to have be dependent of others while they are equally dependent on me. This is extremely profound because of how frequently we must rely on others when working in a working class environment. Being the Vice President of my class put me in a leadership position that was foreign to me before high school. I learned what it meant to speak for the many and make decisions based on the needs and wants of my constituents. This is incredibly important for anyone in a position of power such as a parent, or as, what I plan on being, a teacher. Next is the Model UN, where I learned the importance of diplomacy. I was placed in a situation where I had to work with other representatives of nations, in order to solve a collective problem. This is a strategy that I will use throughout my life when decisions are being made by myself and others of the same level of power. Finally, the math league was mainly supplemental learning for math classes and helped me learn the joy of learning on my own, for no other reward than knowledge.
My family played a grand role in how I performed in my outside of school activities. My father was my basketball coach throughout my life and my mother was respectively her own high school class' president. My brothers were in the math league and Model UN, and I followed in their footsteps when deciding what clubs to join. My family support system allowed me to look to the past and learn about the successes and failures they had made, in order to make the most of my opportunities. I found that it was easier to ask questions about the correct way to go about a problem as opposed to having to learn from my own mistakes. This doesn't mean I didn't make any mistakes, but they were limited to new challenges and times when I refused to listen to my elders.
My studies in someways suffered because of the volume of outside of school work but ultimately I became a much better, and more efficient learner. I had to learn how to distinguish between knowledge that is needed and knowledge that is supplemental in order to minimize my time spend on studying. I learned that in order to succeed in school I needed to learn how to learn instead of just the material in front of me. This was taught to me through limited hours to study and by the way I had to participate in the extracurricular. In math league I didn't need to memorize every problem on a test but I needed to be able to work through a problem using prior knowledge and skills I already knew. In Model UN I had to know the policies of my country and the overall status in order to make decisions that may not be exact to what the country would do, but would in fact benefit my country in a way that solves a problem.
My life outside of school is a main reason I am the student I am today. Through these experiences I learned more than I ever did in the class room. It is because of these experiences that I plan on being a teacher when I graduate. I want to help students not only by teaching in a way I found most helpful but also I want to be there for them outside of the classroom, whether it be in a club setting or in a sport setting.
My academic success has been influenced by Girl Scouting and my family. Out of all of my extra-curricular activities, Girl Scouting is the one that I have been apart of for the longest. I started as a Daisy Girl Scout in kindergarten and continued on through the rest of elementary, middle, and high school. Even today, I am registered as a lifetime Girl Scout. I am proud of my vest that I have successfully filled up with various badges, awards, and patches. It is rare to meet other girls like myself who have been in scouts for more than just a few years. It's always the same story, "I was a Girl Scout! But then I quit because of..." I have seen girls come and go from my troop over the years, but the skills and knowledge I acquired in Girl Scouts will forever be a part of me. Scouting has enhanced my social and professional development skills much more than school alone could have ever done. Aside from scouts, my mother has been a large part of my success thanks to her unconditional love and support. She always has faith in me and will be the first person to give me a big hug or a high-five when I accomplish something great.
I consider myself a stereotypical Girl Scout because I went camping, sang songs around the campfire, and made hundreds of s'mores (I'd like to think I'm a s'mores expert by now). However, Girl Scouting has taught me much more than that. I learned how to be a leader within my community through service projects, education, and much more. Through helping my fellow sisters and community members, I was able to gain a confidence within myself that I would not have if I was not in scouting. It opened my eyes to see the diversity within my own community and understand that things like poverty are not as uncommon as I once thought. From a young age, scouting enhanced my knowledge of those around me and allowed me to be more open-minded and accepting of others. Throughout my early schooling and now college, I have always been able to be friendly and compassionate to those I encounter because of the social skills I gained through Girl Scouts. I have met numerous people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds and I often worked along side girls who were much younger than me. I served as a leader and role model for younger girls and showed them what it means to be a Girl Scout. It was a great experience being able to share my knowledge with the next generation of young women. Not only was I teaching them, but I was also learning about myself as a leader and how I could work well within a group setting. Being able to speak in front of a group and working on projects together enhanced my professional development skills. Once I begin my career, I know I will have to work with others in order to accomplish a task. The self confidence I gained over the years will greatly help me in my future.
My family has always been very supportive of me in everything that I did. My mom never pressured me to get high grades and never punished me if I came home with a low score on an exam. Usually I was the one who was worried that I didn't do well enough. If I came home from school upset because of an exam I had that day, my mom would ask me one simple question, "Did you try your best?" When I responded with a nod, she would say, "Then that's all that matters." Even if I had a breakdown after spending hours studying for an exam, she always just told me to just try my best and see what happened, because that one exam was not going to define who I was as a student. I always thought it was strange that my friends were constantly punished by their parents if they didn't do well enough in school. I could not understand it because that never happened to me before. I believe that I continue to be a good student because of the way I was raised. My friends always had extra pressure being thrown onto them from their parents, causing them to crack during an exam. If they got a score any lower than what their parents wanted, they panicked over what was going to happen when they got home. Now that I am in college, I can understand that my mom's positive advice was much more supportive than the threats that others received. I knew it in high school, but it was not until I got to college that I realized that there is much more to education than the score at the top of my paper.
Through Girl Scouts and the constant support from my mom, I have been able to graduate high school as one of the top in my class, attend college, and serve as a leader within my community. I took the skills and knowledge I learned outside of the classroom and found ways I could incorporate it into my daily life, including working in groups and educating younger generations. I chose to study wildlife and conservation biology not only because I am passionate about it, but also because I believe I can serve as a leader in environmental awareness. I have the skills to communicate with others and I have a strong support system behind me that reminds me that I can accomplish anything I dream of, as long as I try my best.
And when we weren’t out on the field, I can promise you that we were inside watching the Yankee game. It was one of our daily rituals, sit down with dinner on the couch and just relax and watch the game. One of the best things we did was on Opening day every year. I would come home from school and he would take off of work for the day and we would just order food and watch the game. It was honestly one of my favorite things to do and I miss watching games more than I can even express now that I’m away at school.
My dad has pushed me over the years to be the hardworking, confident, and athletic person I am today and I absolutely cannot wait to get back home and watch some more Yankee games with him!
I feel like everyone thinks their family is incredibly weird, and I’m one of those people. My house is filled with pure chaos. Picture this, my father working in his office, my mother running around the house trying to get my siblings ready for a soccer practice, preparing dinner, or doing laundry, my brother playing the piano that’s in our living room, my sister hiding in her room, my miniature poodle barking nonstop, my puppy trying to play with my miniature poodle, and my cats bringing in dead rodents. This is a typical day in the Bychok household, but I love the chaos.
My family inspires me everyday because both my parents and my siblings have incredible work ethic- they give 110% in everything they do. Because of our close relationship I always aspire to do well. I always tried to do well in school, be involved in extracurricular activities, and an overall well rounded person. I’m not entirely sure how to explain it, but I never wanted to disappoint my family. Being the oldest out of my siblings I felt like I was obligated to be a good role model, and being a good role model meant exceeding in everything I did. Sure, there was an enormous amount at times but it was always worth it when my parents told me how proud they were of me.
Along with my immediate family, my extended family has had a huge impact on my life. Most of my dad’s side of the family lives in Hampton, New Hampshire, which is about 20 minutes away from my hometown of York, Maine so we see them all the time. We are all super close and my aunt, uncle, and cousin are three of the funniest people I’ve ever met. My cousin’s kids are the ones who validated my feelings towards wanting to become a teacher. I absolutely love reading to them, watching movies with them, and playing games with them. They all have bright minds and hilarious personalities. I love these kids and the rest of my family to death! They inspire me to be the best version of myself at all times.
“Always work your hardest, no matter what. If you work your hardest on the bad days, doing whatever you are physically capable of, then that is going to make the good days even better.” That is the number one piece of advice that George gave me, and it had proven to be true many times over in my life. In gymnastics, there are days when I can barely move I hurt so much. George doesn’t tell me to try the hard stuff anyways. Not every day is going to be brilliant, and I don't want to hurt myself. Instead, he says “do whatever you can, and keep working on the techniques that will help you do the skill tomorrow.” So, I would do a hundred single back-handsprings on beam, only to find that the double-handsprings were so much easier the next day, when I was feeling better.
The key to living by these words of his is not to be so hard on yourself. I have been in many situations where I have found my eyes filling up with tears when I fell short of my expectations for myself. It may be getting a bad grade on a test, or falling over and over on a skill that I had done perfectly the previous day. I know that life is full of ups and downs; I've heard it said many times before. However, it is often difficult to accept the downs, especially when it seems to be a quick drop. Instead of getting emotional and mad at yourself, you have to start the climb back up to the top. But, you can't jump right up there in one swift motion. You have to work through the bad days, doing everything that you can to make them worthwhile. Then, when you do finally get to the top, it feels a thousand times better.
Some days in school I didn’t get enough sleep, or I was upset about something that happened outside the classroom. Instead of getting stressed out about the workload, I would take a deep breath, and just keep working. If I can listen to the teacher, get the notes, and keep working, than tomorrow is going to be easier. It’s the idea that I just have to keep my chin up, and know that the sun will come out tomorrow. As cheesy as it sounds, I have found these words to be true many times throughout my life so far.
Yes, I’m the type of person who gets mad at myself, or upset when things don’t go how I had envisioned them. George and I have had our share of fights, but in the end, he is like a second father to me. He has taught me the importance of not letting my emotions control me. He has taught me that if I work hard enough day after day without getting mad at myself, than the results will prove to be rewarding. When I was little, I applied these words directly to my gymnastics, and after a few years, I began to see what he was talking about. Now that I am older, I am able to apply this philosophy to all aspects of my life, including school. In school, mindsets are huge, and I believe that I have a fairly positive mindset. I owe a lot of that to George for teaching me the importance of making the most out of every day, because there is always something that we can do today to make tomorrow better. After fourteen years of working with George, he has proven to me that success as a result of hard work is a real thing.
From the day I was born, my family had always been the most significant influence in my life. The supported me in everything that did, they challenged, comforted and stood by me. Whether it was late night talks, advice with friends or pep-talks before a game or race, my family was there. When it came to my academic success, they had just as much of an impact. Up until my junior year of high school, my parents would often quiz me on what I had to study for a test. I realize now, how lucky I am for something like that because not many others have parents that would help out their children the way they helped me. They would remind me not to procrastinate, and offer encouragement when it was most needed. Growing up with my family, in a town sheltered form reality, I was definitely molly coddled, and now that I have entered college, it is a huge adjustment. I am on my own, just like everyone else. Over the years however, my parents have taught me how to trust myself, how to stay focused and how to truly work towards something. Without these influences in my life outside of school, I would not be the same person I am today. Success in my academic as well as my social life has given me the confidence I need to propel me forth on my journey.
Ever since I can remember, I have had a close relationship with my mom. She is one of those people that is impossible to dislike because she always puts others before herself. During my junior year of high school, something unexpected and scary happened to our family. We learned that my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor and would need a major surgery in the upcoming months for removal. It was a stressful time of anticipation due to the risks involved in a highly invasive surgery. After approximately 11 hours, she was back off the anesthesia and in the Intensive Care Unit for recovery.
I can’t explain how I felt when I saw her immediately following the procedure and into the next few weeks. Ever since I was born she was always there, always the strong mom who could do anything. I had never seen her in a similar state and when she came out of surgery I barely recognized her.
The recovery process was long because she had to regain strength to walk again and rework the muscles on the side of her of her face where the removal left temporary facial paralysis. Watching her was hard because I knew how much she wanted to help others and not be the one who needed help. She had so much strength still to gain back and it seemed like it would never happen.
Watching her recovery, I realized that I spent too long taking life for granted. We never know what might happen so we have to be thankful for each day. I learned the importance of being generous and caring like the family and friends who set up breakfast and dinner for my family everyday for over a month and supported us through it all. I feel as though this experience affected me and motivated me to be a better person. I also learned my own capability, how I am able to be strong in difficult times and how I am able to be independent. Material things and irrelevant arguments are not worth the time and energy. My mom is doing well and almost fully recovered and I couldn’t be happier. It was a difficult time but it taught me a lot about life in general and the perspective I want to have on life.
I was never good at tennis. The ability to control the amount of power the ball needs, in a split second, to perfectly hit a spot where it is impossible for the opponent to return - that did not come naturally to me.
While others on the team focused on becoming the best tennis players, I was watching: watching how they interacted with one another, how they took criticism, how they looked when they failed or excelled.
After observing, I found that the courts became a place of comfort for me, a place away from reality. Whenever I needed to get away, tennis was always there. Returning to practice every day made me a better tennis player, a better me.
I soon found my place on the team, a place that was in between. A place where I could learn from the knowledgeable ones, understand the once frightening pack for who they are, and not what I thought they were, and appreciate what was so unique about tennis that made the guy who came to practice every day keep coming back.
Tennis soon became an enormous part of my life. To me, tennis is not a sport, it is a story: a story that continues to develop new, complex chapters every practice and every game; a place where people come together for their own reasons.
Tennis changed who I was; it made me who I am. It made me a player who cherishes reality. It made me a player who has hope in life. Tennis gave me a sense of belonging. It gave me my place on the sidelines cheering our sports team on, my place helping organize the Homecoming Pep Rally, my place behind the curtain waiting for the musical to begin, my place as captain of my own girl’s tennis team; my place of inbetweens.
Especially by creating my own tennis team, I fell in love with teaching others. I loved the fact that the girls would come to practice wanting to be better. And I felt like I could relate to the girls on the team who simply had no idea what they were doing - because that was me.
Tennis also made me become aware of watching others and interpreting their actions before making assumptions. Being a coach to a team has inspired me to be an understanding teacher for my students.
As the season of spring co-ed tennis reached its last game, I did not want it to end. I wanted to come back to practice the next day; I wanted to come home. I finally felt safe on the courts, and the season was over.
My family has played an instrumental role in my academic success since I was in kindergarten. Despite their divorce when I was nearly five years old, neither my mom nor my dad have ever stopped believing in me and pushing me to achieve my goals. I’ve always been motivated and driven in anything I set out to do, which I can credit to my upbringing by my parents. These characteristics helped me excel in school, as I always put my best effort forward in my work. They taught me discipline skills such as respect and proper manners, as well as organizational skills that I use to this day. Being able to manage time in school and stay organized is key to success. They were there for every school presentation, graduation or awards ceremony I’ve ever been in. Without them, I don’t know if I’d be the confident and driven student I am today.
My mom also had a large influence on my decision to become a teacher. I grew up watching her make lesson plans for her preschool class at her school in East Greenwich. I was always fascinated by her work, and was inspired to “play school” as a child, following in her footsteps. I’ve always admired my mom for her good natured and caring character which she translates into her job as a teacher. Although she was hesitant about me becoming a teacher at first, she supports me in doing whatever will make me happy. Now, I find that I can come to her with any questions I have about the world of teaching, and am lucky I have her support along the way.
English has always been my strongest subject. I’ve been an avid reader ever since I was little. My parents would always find me curled up with a book somewhere in the house at any point in time. I was fascinated by how someone else’s words on a page could conjure up such strong emotions. My love for reading at home led to my appreciation for the works we studied in my English class. I approached each literary work with special care, doing my best to detect hidden meanings and symbolism. I participated in every discussion I could and was exposed to amazing pieces of literature. I also discovered my passion for writing, a skill that transfers to every other subject I’ve ever taken. In the end, I truly have my family to think for being my biggest support system.
At the age of seven, I began to swim, however this was only in the summer and didn’t make too much of an indent on my social or academic life. By the time I was ten years old, I began to swim year round, at a rather competitive program that required me to swim six times a week for two hours each day. I struggled to find the motivation to complete tasks such as those at such a young age, and absolutely hated going to practice; however, I was good at swimming, so I decided it was just better to stick at something I was good at rather than do something where I had no talents. When I turned twelve, my family and I moved to New York and with my new team, I had an entirely different outlook on swimming and sudden motivation to be the best that I could possibly become.
Through getting to know my new team and coaches, I pushed myself harder and harder in the pool, I knew what my goals were, and I was willing to do just about anything to achieve those goals. I never gave up, and eventually I reached those goals. I also learned how to be a leader and good teammate and friend during this process. By my junior year, I was captain of my varsity team and continued to be captain through my senior year.
However, with great success comes great failure, and I had to learn how to mentally and physically make it through rough patches. I can not lie, a lot of the times the pressure to once again become the great swimmer I was while still maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school was not an easy accomplishment. But because of the skills swimming had taught me, I knew that I was a strong person and could do anything that I had put my mind to.
Throughout all of my experiences as a swimmer, I’d have to say by far the most inspiring one was when I went through countless injuries and failures and refused to let that stop me. At some point, eventually, everyone has to move on from swimming and find something else in their lives that they want to succeed in, but I knew that for me, swimming had not yet come to a close. There was more left out there for me to achieve and I was willing to do whatever it took to find those things. Everything I have been through in this sport has also helped me in the classroom.
Most nights I found myself getting less than 5 hours of sleep due to homework and having to wake up at the crack of dawn to swim, but I knew that if I was going to be successful in life, I couldn’t let swimming be my only priority. Spending long hours alone, studying and frantically trying to complete various assignments, I became a very determined person. Grades were always important to me, and like swimming, I knew that if I wanted to have high grades, I was going to have to work hard for them, so I never gave up and always gave schoolwork and tests everything that I had; I never let anything get in my way.
I am thankful that I had such a difficult sport in my life to teach me all of these valuable lessons and I hope that I will be able to use these lessons and skills in my life as I grow older and find new obstacles to conquer. I say with pride that I honestly do not think I would be half the student I am today without swimming in my life, or without my parents.
The endless support and encouragement given to me by my parents has allowed me to put myself out there and reach for goals that may seem unattainable; they taught me that no dream is too big and you can do anything you put your mind to. Growing up as the oldest sibling, I was always very independent and often played a "parent" role to my younger brother, Ryan, and my little sister, Olivia. I shared with them all the faith that I was given and I push them to be their best and support them along the way. My family is one of the biggest reasons I am so successful in school, and each day they inspire me to be the best version of myself possible; I want to be a good role model for my brother and sister.
Having a sister in elementary school helped me to find my desire to become and elementary school teacher. Always helping her with her projects, I grew to really enjoy the way her mind thought and I loved to answer all of her innocent questions, I want to allow children's learning to soar, and so I will continue to work hard so I can make that dream a reality.
As it did my whole life, dance consumed my high school years as well. Being a competitive dancer was hard and exhausting. I brought my homework to the studio and worked with everyone there on his or her own schoolwork as well. We all helped each other out because we knew how long we would all be there and how hard it was to do homework when you get home at 9:30pm on a school night. My teachers would let me sit out if I had too much homework because they knew school and my grades cam before dance. Dance gave me skills I use today such as time management, a work ethic, and teaching tips. It gave me something to strive for but to remember there was more out in the world than only dance and that I needed to study to go to college and get such a career that would grant me the opportunity to continue dancing.
Varying only a little, I was with the same girls my whole life. They were not only my dance team; they were the sisters I didn’t have at home. By my senior year, there were 17 on my team, which was hard, but I wouldn’t have traded it for the world and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Each girl holds a special place in my heart and even though we speak often, I miss them immensely. The dance team taught me what it meant to want something so bad and work so hard for it. When I was younger, school came easy. Not anymore unfortunately. However, I always wanted to be like the older girls and I strived to look like them in everything I did. I learned how to push myself to the limit and what it meant to persevere even through rough times. My hard work paid off and I began moving up with the older girls and I became an example to the younger girls that it was possible.
I have one dance teacher to this day who I love immensely and would do anything for. She has been nothing but supportive in everything I have done; even when I was contemplating quitting, she backed me up because she wanted what was best for me. She gave me a few scares, especially with her fall on the ice after two hip replacements. She was older and the wisest woman I had ever met. She gave a breath of fresh air in her dancing even though she was limited. She left the studio about two years back for her health. I was lost without her but I continue contact and I probably owe her a phone call now.
My family and extended family have always have always had the opportunity for a college education. My parents both have degrees and my aunt has multiple undergraduate and graduate level degrees; it was always impressed upon me the importance of a college education. I had always heard to "work smart, not hard." The only way this could be accomplished was through higher education in order to secure a professional career rather than a "job".
I've recently witnessed my mom go back to school after many years because she wanted to better herself. This instilled a work ethic in me to figure out my education in order to succeed and achieve my desired occupation or career. A career should evolve out of a passion or personal interest and that is why I have chosen to work in the pediatric end of communicative disorders. My love of children and watching them grow and learn even through tough times has given me a drive for my schoolwork.
Not only for Career purposes, academics were always very important in my house. I was always reminded to sacrifice a little fun now for the reward later. To go to work happy and excited everyday was far better than punching a clock and paying the bills. How can anyone do this? An education, especially a college one. I was always told by my mom how lucky I was to discover what I wanted to do so early in life so that I could start way earlier than she did. My mom changed careers very late in life when she finally discovered what she wanted to do. What watching this has done for me, is to show me that no matter what, work hard in school and you will achieve your goals. The most important building block to this structure of life and future is education. It was instilled in my parents from when they were young and it was instilled in me because of that.
My younger sister Nicole drags herself into my room, lugging with her a large math text book for the second time this week. She sits down on my floor, and spreads the book and her notebook open for me to see, and begins hammering away with “I don’t know’s”. My sister and I are opposites when it comes to math, so helping her is always a challenge. It’s hard to respectfully discuss topics with your sibling when both of you are exhausted and frustrated and one of you isn’t understanding something, but somehow we always manage to end the studying peacefully. We have always used each other’s strengths – she helped me format and compose my first resume, and I usually help her with math and science homework. In many ways, it brings us closer as sisters, but it also helps us achieve what is academically expected of us: 100% effort, and hopefully good grades.
From an early age, my parents challenged me intellectually. When I was a kid my mom worked at our local library, and it became one of my favorite places. The librarians on the children’s floor loved me, because I would walk around for hours organizing the books alphabetically by author, then by title, and then by size. I learned to read at a fairly young age, and I read a lot of books out loud to my sister, but my favorite past time by far was puzzles. I liked conceptual puzzles, picture puzzles, math puzzles and word puzzles. Taking intellectual risks was something I gained knowledge and experience from, and it’s probably the reason I pushed myself outside my academic comfort zone as much as possible in high school.
Although my sister is my number one peer editor, I owe my productive work ethics to my mom, who taught me how to manage my time. For as long as I can remember, my parents have made me go to bed relatively early. In middle school, I would be doing homework in my room and as soon as nine ‘o’clock came around, I would have to start getting ready for bed, even if my homework wasn’t finished. I remember my mom coming in my room one night when I was in fifth grade; I was working on my science poster board and I had almost finished gluing everything on when she came in and told me to go to sleep. I remember begging her for ten more minutes – just to do my homework (nerd!). Although she let me have it that night, her relentless attitude that sleep should come before anything else has given me great time management skills. These were crucial for me in high school, especially during sports seasons.
During the soccer season, we had practice Monday through Friday from 3-5:30pm, and usually we had a game or two each week as well. Because I lived a half hour away from my school, I didn’t get home most nights until 6pm or later, at which time I had to eat dinner and shower. By the time I was settled in, it was already 7:30 or 8 and I had to start my homework. For six classes’ worth of homework, one or two hours was not nearly enough time to get everything finished for the next day, especially with the inevitability of procrastination. So I ended up doing all the homework I could on the bus rides home from soccer so that I could go to sleep early. I felt like I was working all the time, and although this left me frustrated, I always got a good night’s sleep, which prepared me for the next day’s adventures and kept me healthy.
To give you some background, my mom now works as a secretary for a research company in my town, and my dad works as a product manager for a software company. I’m not sure if it was my upbringing that caused me to fall in love with science, or just my natural interests, but by middle school I knew I wanted to pursue math and science in college. My parents supported my decision completely, and never doubted that I would do well in the field. During senior year, they encouraged me to apply for as many ‘women in STEM’ scholarships as possible to help pay for college, something I can’t regret.
I wouldn’t be enjoying my college career without the constant pushes and cheers I received from my parents over the years. They have made me an individual who is independent, communicates well, and works hard, and I am forever thankful for all that they have taught me.
With that in mind, the biggest academic influence acting on me outside of the classroom was without a doubt my mother. My mother is a wonderful woman, and from an early age both she and my father encouraged me to do well in school, make many friends in many places, and to stretch myself and test my comfort zone. While I love them both, and I've never mentioned this to them, some of the things they said in their attempts to encourage me have, just as Dweck said, left me feeling as if I've fallen short. From an early age my mother told me I was smart. I, as I'm sure many of my fellow classmates here did, excelled in the early years of grade school. A second grade teacher recommended taking me out of public school and putting me into a private setting in which I might hone my talents even more.
My mom wasn't afraid to tell anyone that, and she reminded me of it on a regular basis in the years to follow. She still does actually. It's quite annoying.
I don't think I'm unintelligent. I actually like to think I'm a reasonably good thinker, but I dislike thinking of myself above others. I believe humility is an important quality to practice. Sure, I have pride in quite a few areas, but to be openly expressive of that pride is often in poor taste. In a classroom setting, I'd rather my grades do the talking. My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Castiglione, once told me, after a long one on one speech about effort in the classroom, "you could be the star."
Of course, I went home and told my mom that, and that became my undoing. The way I see it, yes, I'm a good student. However, I have some study habits which I'm still trying to correct and I have a bad habit of procrastination. Despite what my fifth grade teacher said to me, who's to say I'm the smartest and most capable one in the classroom? I don't know, maybe I was at the time, but there were others who were very intelligent as well, and some of them had a better work ethic than I did. Despite all the praise my mother gave me at home, I felt as if, partly due to my own errors of course, I frequently fell short of the standard she set for me. Despite how much she told me I could overcome it, I never did.
While my mother was by far the most powerful influence acting on me outside of school in this regard, my father was there as well, always acting as a sort of buffer for her fanatics. While he certainly cared, and still cares, about my schooling, he's a much more quiet person, and his encouragement has always been tame. Despite the passion my mom has expressed in her desire to see me succeed, my father's softer spoken words of encouragement were always highly appreciated.
As I've stated, although it was by my own errors that I didn't always do as well as I could have done in the classroom, I have to say, a lot of stress was supplemented by the things my mom said to me. Going forward, I look to correct those mistakes in college. My parents and family have been a constant source of encouragement, even now, and I plan to take all these positive words they've had for me and carry them forward, if all goes well, into further understanding and success.
Maya Angelou spoke to the importance of knowing one’s own worth. She said when you know your worth, you don’t have to raise your voice, be rude, or command attention: you just are. I used to be afraid to assert myself, especially to someone in a position of authority; I did not trust my worth. Last summer, I found my worth 1,500 meters under the sea.
I wasn’t actually 1,500 meters below the ocean’s surface; I was watching live footage from deep-sea ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) while on the Exploration Vessel Nautilus in the Jamaica Channel. The ROV cameras send footage to a control van on board the ship and to a website that is publicly accessible twenty-four hours a day. I spent one week on the Nautilus as the last part of the Honors Research Program, an internship run by Dr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who found the Titanic shipwreck. The program offered me an opportunity to explore my interest in biological oceanography.
After going through customs in Montego Bay, Jamaica (an adventure in and of itself), I finally boarded the Nautilus. The next day, I spent hours inside the control van, the center of scientific exploration on board. Its outward, boxy appearance has all the imposing awe of a mobile home, but after yanking open the salt-covered door, I was truly amazed. The van was considerably cooler than the balmy Caribbean air to preserve the wall of computers flashing and buzzing in the back. Its interior would have been pitch-black were it not for the massive, high-resolution monitors showing stunning live video from the ROV cameras. I put on a headset to communicate with everyone in the van and answer questions viewers submitted through the live website. I switched on the public communication system and listened to the scientists, educators, and pilots as I watched the ROVs descend through the water column past delicate white flakes of marine snow.
I listened to the explorers introduce themselves and then nervously flipped the switch to send my voice to viewers around the world. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, being surrounded graduate students, scientists, and a Yale professor, but then I realized I should be proud. I was the only high school student in the van, one of only eight who would go on the Nautilus the whole year. I had earned my acceptance into this program; I was ready for this. I introduced myself cheerily to the viewers and quickly got comfortable fielding questions from the public and asking questions of the scientists.
On the next dive, the ROVs approached what everyone in the van misidentified as a crinoid, an organism not unlike the Truffula trees of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. I was the only one who knew it was actually a brisingid sea star.
I now faced what I had always been uncomfortable with: asserting myself. Should I correct the people in the van, including the expedition leader and an accomplished geologist, or stay silent out of fear? I decided I had to trust myself. I had been paying attention to the dives, soaking up everything the scientists said, and I now knew what I was worth to the expedition. I switched on the public communication system and said quietly but assuredly, “Actually, I think that’s a brisingid sea star.” The data engineer took a second look at the monitors. After a terrifying moment of silence, she said, “Oh, you’re right.” Then, the leader of the entire expedition said to me, “Yeah. Good job, Dawn.” I was receiving praise from people who achieved recognition I one day hope to have. Even more than that, I was no longer afraid. I hadn’t needed to command attention or raise my voice; I was just myself. The scientists accepted me because once I knew my worth, so did the people around me.
The summer of 2014 was the most influential summer of my life. I went out on the ship after spending a month at the University of Rhode Island studying oceanography. Seven other students and I worked on group research projects to study the population densities of invasive lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean and also worked together to engineer oceanic drifters, devices that float in and measure ocean current by reporting their location to a satellite via GPS.
I realized I want to work for either the organization that ran the program, Ocean Exploration Trust, or a similar organization, exploring the deep ocean. I want to be on research ships as much as possible in my life because the time on the ship was illuminating for me more than just academically; it showed me what I want to do with the rest of my life.
While growing up I lived in a world populated by larger than life heroes. Chief among these heroes was my sister. Throughout my life, my sister was my role model: more intelligent, more determined, and more successful than any other mere mortal. To say that she influenced my early schooling would be a gross understatement, rather, she defined my academic career well into high school. Before I had any idea of how grades would affect the remainder of my life, I always strove to try and surpass my older sister. Knowing that my sister had always read several years above her reading level, I endeavored to do the same, ravenously devouring any form of literature I could get my hands on until about the time I got into high school. Outside of my sister, the rest of my family helped shape me into the person I am today. My parents were both born in Lisbon, Portugal and only through hard work and tenacity did they carve their place in the middle class out. Both of my parents having had a college education, they knew the value of schooling and always encouraged me to take my studies seriously. I owe all of my academic successes to my family who inspired and drove me forward through years of school.
Everyone always has something going on outside of school. My life outside of school sometimes made it challenging to do all my homework, but it was definitely possible getting it done even if it was at 1 a.m. Growing up my mom taught me to get homework done as soon as I got home from school so I always had that mentality unless I was busy. During the winter I was involved in Girls' Show which took up a lot of my time, but it was the girls I met that helped me with my academic success. After practice we would go to someone's house and get our homework done. If one of us had a test to study for then the rest of us would help by quizzing each other. Grades were very important to my friends and I, plus we needed good grades to continue to play sports as well as for colleges. My mom has been a high school English teacher for over 30 years. She has contributed greatly to my academic success. She is the main reason why I chose secondary education as my major. She played a huge role in who I am today and why I am the way I am. My mom taught me to always ask questions if I did not understand something which is how I managed to get good grades. My mom would help me study when I was younger to get me into the habit of studying because she knew it was an important skill I needed to have to succeed in college. My brothers also helped with my academic success. As math got more challenging my brother Billy would help me understand the material that my mom could no longer help me with since it was not her forte.
I remember one night in particular, it was a little after midnight and I was on my couch in my living room studying for a math midterm. I was getting extremely frustrated, but I did not understand logs and natural logs and started crying. (which happens when I get really stressed out) My mom told me to relax and that everything was going to be ok. Even though she could not help me study she was there for me. She is truly my sanity. She told me to go to bed and in the morning everything would be better and of course she was right. I am beyond thankful for her and all that she did for me to help me succeed and still does for me today. There have been many nights like that where she would just take me out for ice cream to try to get my mind off of it for a while and then later on I would come back to it when I was calm. My mom is truly my best friend and I am so happy that she has been my biggest supporter since day one.
My parents are divorced and I have a half sister that you will never hear me talk about. She did not care about school and she messed up in life. Seeing where she ended up in life has also motivated me to work hard in school and to not end up like her. She taught me to surround myself with good people and to not let the craziness of high school change who I am just like it changed her. I barely talk to her, but once in a while I get a text message reminding me of how important school is and to not get caught up in the wrong crowd like her.
My mom and grandmother are both very intelligent women. They both received good grades and that is what really motivated me to do well in school. I wanted to be just like the two strongest, most independent people in my life. I knew if I did not do something to my fullest potential they would be disappointed in me so I just did what I had to do. My grandmother was also a high school English teacher. My mom was admired by her students. Whenever I was in public with her either a current or former student would stop her and say hi. They would also tell me how much they loved my mom and how great of teacher she was. That is when I really knew I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be admired just like my mom was. My mom retired as of this year and when she left students and faculty cried because she has touched the lives of many. She not only taught, she taught with passion because she loved what she did. She is my inspiration and motivation to be the best teacher I can be.
My family played a grand role in how I performed in my outside of school activities. My father was my basketball coach throughout my life and my mother was respectively her own high school class' president. My brothers were in the math league and Model UN, and I followed in their footsteps when deciding what clubs to join. My family support system allowed me to look to the past and learn about the successes and failures they had made, in order to make the most of my opportunities. I found that it was easier to ask questions about the correct way to go about a problem as opposed to having to learn from my own mistakes. This doesn't mean I didn't make any mistakes, but they were limited to new challenges and times when I refused to listen to my elders.
My studies in someways suffered because of the volume of outside of school work but ultimately I became a much better, and more efficient learner. I had to learn how to distinguish between knowledge that is needed and knowledge that is supplemental in order to minimize my time spend on studying. I learned that in order to succeed in school I needed to learn how to learn instead of just the material in front of me. This was taught to me through limited hours to study and by the way I had to participate in the extracurricular. In math league I didn't need to memorize every problem on a test but I needed to be able to work through a problem using prior knowledge and skills I already knew. In Model UN I had to know the policies of my country and the overall status in order to make decisions that may not be exact to what the country would do, but would in fact benefit my country in a way that solves a problem.
My life outside of school is a main reason I am the student I am today. Through these experiences I learned more than I ever did in the class room. It is because of these experiences that I plan on being a teacher when I graduate. I want to help students not only by teaching in a way I found most helpful but also I want to be there for them outside of the classroom, whether it be in a club setting or in a sport setting.
I consider myself a stereotypical Girl Scout because I went camping, sang songs around the campfire, and made hundreds of s'mores (I'd like to think I'm a s'mores expert by now). However, Girl Scouting has taught me much more than that. I learned how to be a leader within my community through service projects, education, and much more. Through helping my fellow sisters and community members, I was able to gain a confidence within myself that I would not have if I was not in scouting. It opened my eyes to see the diversity within my own community and understand that things like poverty are not as uncommon as I once thought. From a young age, scouting enhanced my knowledge of those around me and allowed me to be more open-minded and accepting of others. Throughout my early schooling and now college, I have always been able to be friendly and compassionate to those I encounter because of the social skills I gained through Girl Scouts. I have met numerous people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds and I often worked along side girls who were much younger than me. I served as a leader and role model for younger girls and showed them what it means to be a Girl Scout. It was a great experience being able to share my knowledge with the next generation of young women. Not only was I teaching them, but I was also learning about myself as a leader and how I could work well within a group setting. Being able to speak in front of a group and working on projects together enhanced my professional development skills. Once I begin my career, I know I will have to work with others in order to accomplish a task. The self confidence I gained over the years will greatly help me in my future.
My family has always been very supportive of me in everything that I did. My mom never pressured me to get high grades and never punished me if I came home with a low score on an exam. Usually I was the one who was worried that I didn't do well enough. If I came home from school upset because of an exam I had that day, my mom would ask me one simple question, "Did you try your best?" When I responded with a nod, she would say, "Then that's all that matters." Even if I had a breakdown after spending hours studying for an exam, she always just told me to just try my best and see what happened, because that one exam was not going to define who I was as a student. I always thought it was strange that my friends were constantly punished by their parents if they didn't do well enough in school. I could not understand it because that never happened to me before. I believe that I continue to be a good student because of the way I was raised. My friends always had extra pressure being thrown onto them from their parents, causing them to crack during an exam. If they got a score any lower than what their parents wanted, they panicked over what was going to happen when they got home. Now that I am in college, I can understand that my mom's positive advice was much more supportive than the threats that others received. I knew it in high school, but it was not until I got to college that I realized that there is much more to education than the score at the top of my paper.
Through Girl Scouts and the constant support from my mom, I have been able to graduate high school as one of the top in my class, attend college, and serve as a leader within my community. I took the skills and knowledge I learned outside of the classroom and found ways I could incorporate it into my daily life, including working in groups and educating younger generations. I chose to study wildlife and conservation biology not only because I am passionate about it, but also because I believe I can serve as a leader in environmental awareness. I have the skills to communicate with others and I have a strong support system behind me that reminds me that I can accomplish anything I dream of, as long as I try my best.